Posts Tagged ‘ microsoft ’

Make your windows desktop look like a Google OS (not the real one, though)

Another post on trying to make your desktop look different. Last time I tried putting up a tutorial on how to get your windows desktop to look like a Mac.
News of the google chrome OS sure has been a hot one on the internet and I thought it would be a great idea to dress up your desktop before Google launches their first screenshots and spoils the party. Google’s design is all about simplicity and that’s what should be the focus of their desktop as well. So I decided to give it a no wallpaper look. Right click on your desktop > properties > desktop and make sure the wallpaper is set to none. Change the color of the background to white (or maybe even blue..)
Now at the center of this desktop design is an application called the circle dock. The circle dock is just the usual mac dock with the icons setup in circle(s) (you decide on the number of circles. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the circle dock’s options/settings to ensure that you get the best of this tutorial.
There’s no installing Circle dock, so you just extract the zip file and run the circledock.exe file. Now for the Google Icons. For the most original looking Icons I recommend the Simply Google Icon Collection by tempest.
You still need to get the big chrome icon, one of which I found here. Right click on the dock and change the center icon to the chrome icon. To link up all the icons to the relevant web applications, you need to create shortcuts to google chrome applications. You create an application shortcut, by right clicking the dock icon and pointing it to google chrome’s location and make sure you put in the website address in the arguments section of the shortcut for the dock icon. For example, for gmail the argument would look like:
–app=https://mail.google.com/mail
If you need help, try creating an application shortcuts from within google chrome. Play around with the settings and you should be fine. Be advised that Circle dock is still an alpha version.
Now to extent the tabbed feature to all applications, not just google chrome, to do this download a program called WindowTabs. But windowtabs is not freeware, but the trial version allows you to group upto 3 tabs with no time restrictions or nag screens. Install Windowtabs and you’re good to go. The final version:

2009
07/11
CATEGORY
operating systems
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13 reasons why Internet explorer rules workplaces!

A recent survey reveals that most enterprises still love to flaunt Internet Explorer as their default browser. Most of the security updates in the organization are for IE as well. Major reasons which could be attributed to this are:

  1. It is bundled with Microsoft windows.
  2. Most Microsoft office applications work better with IE
  3. Outlook Webaccess works better with Internet explorer
  4. Microsoft sharepoint services work with Internet explorer
  5. Its easier to put in admin policies for a non-open source browser
  6. Other software used in the organization are dependent on Internet explorer
  7. It gets updated with the windows updater
  8. Its “Microsoft” Internet Explorer.
  9. The admin does not know about Firefox or Chrome
  10. There is so much you can do with Internet explorer
  11. There are no Macs which run Safari or Firefox
  12. Users have trouble learning to use any browser other than IE
  13. The IT policy says so.

Let us know what you think in the comments..Should IE be the browser of choice in organizations?

2009
05/10
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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Windows 7: First look at the next OS from Microsoftw

I almost forgot the last time I blogged about windows 7. The successor to the Vista series..Now, apparently Microsoft didn’t benefit much from Vista, so they decided to copy Macs a bit more and make a more macintosh like OS.

Here are the first look pics of the Windows 7 desktop:

Now thats terribly disappointing…They try to recreate a dock bar like appearance which belongs to the Mac, but fail miserably at doing that…It looks like they made the quick launch bigger…what a joke…The start menu has changed too, but I really am not too impressed with that…and btw clicking on these icons gives a content sensitive, application relevant menu…

There are several changes under the hood…but I am a man of the desktop and you can judge a book by its cover..But, considering this is just the first look and there are changes still to come, Microsoft still might be able to make a difference..After all, when the first preview of the longhorn was released, it was nothing like the Vista we know today…

Wish to make your PC look like windows 7, atleast you can get the wallpaper here

Read the full review of the Windows 7 first look here.

2008
10/28
CATEGORY
computers
technology
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Customizing your Desktop: changing your Windows Vista theme

Vista gives you two themes to select from, your Aero theme and your windows classic theme. But how long do you stay without getting bored? Get new themes, and install them, before that, you need to follow this tutorial.

More desktop customization, and my search for the free windows manager takes me to Styles XP. But, it is neither free nor is it available for Windows XP….So, my search continues until I find Code Gazer’s VistaGlazz. Vista Glazz lets me install third party themes, visual styles for Vista (and the best part is, it is free..)

Step 1:

Install VistaGlazz and run the program.

Now select the second icon (the one that looks like a shade card (the tick mark will be not be present until you run the program once. Follow the instructions and you are all ready to rock.

Step 2:

You can find vista themes all over the internet. I prefer deviantART for all my desktop customization needs. To illustrate, let us use the Leopard 1.0a theme by Masterhack.

Download the file by clicking on the links on the left of the page. Unzip the file after you have saved it. Copy all the files to the following folder on your hd:

C:\Windows\Resources\Themes

Click on the Leopard.theme and apply it. Done. Enjoy your new theme.

Installation of theme should make sure that you no longer need to use Objectbar as mentioned in my earlier post which lets you make your desktop look like a Mac.

This is how my screen looks like now.

Top secret Geek stuff (what, the vistaglazz app does)

It replaces three files on your hard drive (inside the windows/system32 folder) This enables you to add new themes other than the default themes which Microsoft has provided you with. These files are available for your version of windows at Within Windows

IMPORTANT:

  • The theme file is a rar format (a compression format similar to zip) . You will need winrar to unrar it (thanks to Sabrina for reminding me that I need to provide a link)
  • This tutorial is only for Windows Vista. For Windows XP, I guess you don’t have an option but to buy Styles XP.
  • Do not try this tutorial if you have Vista Home Basic Version.
  • In case you have already installed Service pack for Windows Vista, download VistaGlazz from here (instead of the link at the beginning of the post)
  • There is a chance that things could go wrong and your computer could explode, implode, crash or become a black hole after trying out my tutorial. So, do it only if you know what you are doing and you are willing to take a risk.
  • The author, website or anyone in this universe is not responsible for your actions after reading this tutorial, in fact, they weren’t even responsible for your actions before you read this.
2008
09/05
CATEGORY
computers
technology
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Make your windows look like an Apple Mac

Its been a long time since I made desktop customization except for the regular change of the wallpaper that I do…So, I decided it was time to spice up my desktop and decided to go for the MacOS look…I already had the best windows look, since I had Vista. So now how do I go about making my desktop looking like MacOS? First a little basics on the Mac world for all those MS Windows lovers out there…

Macs run the OS X which succeed the Mac OS operating system, and you might be interested to know that all of Mac OSX versions have been named after the big cats family like the OSX puma, panther, Jaguar, leopard and so on…The latest in the line of the cats is the snow leopard..and here we have a screenshot which should make things a bit more clear

Now that we know how the interface looks lets work on changing the interface..The first important part of the OSX interface is the “dock” which you will find at the bottom of the screen..
So, we download that one. I found two free alternatives to the “dock” for windows, one is Objectdock from Stardock and the other is Rocketdock from Punklabs. There are other alternatives too, but these are the two I decided to try out…Stardock has been a company synonymous with the best windows skinning programs like Windowblinds, DesktopX etc..and after trying out both of the products, I decided, much to my surprise that Rocketdock worked better for me, it was simple and easier to use..but I would say that making the choice is merely a matter of random selection.

Now we have Rocketdock installed, lets load it. Add icons, right click the dock to add new icons, separators and docklets (like clocks, weather icons etc..)
I write this post primarily for windows users and so I would know how much have come to love the convenience of minimizing to the taskbar. So, right click on the dock -> dock settings -> General tab and enable the “Minimize windows to the dock” checkbox.
The second app we need to download is, Objectbar. This is for the top bar and also to ensure that you continue to have access to your tray icons and to make the transformation complete.

lets get the last bit of the interface quick now, the wallpaper. You can get the original set here.
The dock icons are usually .png icons and you can download them as per your requirement from deviantART.

And this is how my desktop looks now…

The disclaimer part
I love windows and I love the mac as well. I do not have a Mac. All copyrights, trademarks, brandnames are all properties of their corresponding owners. This is not a post for Mac purists. It is for an ordinary windows user who wants to add some spice to his desktop. It wont change your windows to make it look and feel as good as Mac. you should get a Mac if you want the experience…

Update Aug.07, 2009: Get OSX font smoothing for windows as well!

2008
08/23
CATEGORY
computers
technology
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The fantasy browser wars

I have been a fearless warrior in the browser wars ever since 2000…and I have seen the nations rise and fall, so I thought I would write a blog on that…
Long long ago, in the kingdom of Windowsia, two young warriors set out to dominate the land…One of them was IE, the son of Lord Gatez, the emperor of Windowsia and the other was from the rival kingdom, equally talented..the Netscape…
The young warriors were continually at war…and neither side could be judged the winner…
Until one day, the dragon lord mozilla laid his eyes on Netscape and took over his kingdom…with no netscape to bother, IE grew strong and powerful..but the peace was not to last, because mozilla was not at rest all this while and he empowered his new found netscape with super powers to fight IE..But alas, the power given to netscape was too much for him to handle and all the heavy artillery was too much for him to even load, making him a bloated monster unable to win…IE won the battle once again…
The battle might have been won, but now Mozilla understood where he went wrong..and while he continued to support netscape with more power and troops, he secretly built his own version of netscape deep within his lair, breathing life into it with his own fire and the intelligence and strength which he derived from netscape and thus was born the firebird…but impressed by its cleverness and shrewdness, mozilla decided to rechristen it firefox instead…When firefox came out into the open, with its glistening armor, glowing aura and all the power and skill which mozilla had put into it; it was quite a force to reckon with even when it was young.. IE had to suffer many setbacks, legal difficulties which weakened it all the more…
Firefox grew strong as time passed by…it inspired others to become its followers and a “flock” of men were at its side, and it was near invincible..All this time, there was lurking a powerful lord who was powerful in his own right…who was content with his share of the land, lord opera…but then…
To be contd..

2008
05/05
CATEGORY
technology
web2.0
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Microsoft Surface – The Possibilities

I have been waiting for a few years for this to come really out and succeed…Where is it? Its such great technology..simply put, a highly enhanced table sized iphone…Why isn’t everyone talking about it?

Answer: link

Thanks to jrjflick for that one!

2008
04/18
CATEGORY
technology
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Windows 7 soon going to be out

Here is something, I thought Vista was newest one and there are sounds of a newer version just around corner…Makes me wonder why anyone should not bypass vista all together…

Windows 7 or so it is called, should be out for 32 and 64 bit systems and I guess during development, it was codenamed “Vienna”. And as usual it will out in consumer and enterprise editions..The new version should be out within the next 3 years I guess

I really don’t understand why Microsoft is in such a hurry to come out with the next version…I really think they need to give Vista some more time, after all people take time to move to the next operating system…It is not like a browser or an antivirus which people can upgrade every now and then..
Read about the idea to bring out windows 7 here…

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2008
04/05
CATEGORY
technology
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